Raina’s braces fail to pull down her front teeth as intended—they are now fused to her jawbone. Dr. Dragoni proposes extracting the teeth over winter break and replacing them with a temporary retainer. He will then use a full set of braces to move the remaining top teeth together over several years. Raina switches between despair and hope during this explanation until she cries on her mother’s shoulder. The news negatively affects her performance at school.

Melissa and Karin learn about Raina’s relationship with Sammy and tease her for being with “a tiny-tot sixth grader” (83), but she does not care. Meanwhile, Emily suggests that she watch The Little Mermaid in theaters, which destroys her expectations and makes her want to become an animator (or a mermaid). She then develops a crush on a transfer student, Sean, after he briefly mentions liking it as well.

After Dr. Dragoni removes her braces, Raina cannot enjoy her winter break as she runs into reminders of her upcoming surgery such as half-bitten apple ornaments and Grandma Gagnon’s peanut brittle. She undergoes the extraction surgery at Dr. Golden’s office just before Christmas. While under anesthesia, she relives a childhood memory in which she loses a baby tooth in a bounce house accident.